Larry Shenk, Vice President of Alumni Relations, shares his notes, quotes and anecdotes from the world of baseball.

On To Houston

Last night, with the big guy leading the way, was an offensive epidemic. Ryan Howard certainly put a charge in his two homers.

Biggest thing was winning two of three.

Now, on to Houston for four games against the red-hot Astros. When they limped out of Philadelphia on April 17, they were in last place in the NL Central, 6-10. They are 21-11 since and in the hunt.

Where’s Waldo?Well, this is really where’s Wolever, as in Marti, our director of scouting who will oversee the First-Year Player Draft which starts two weeks from today.

“Since last Thursday, I have been in St. Louis, Atlanta, Dallas, Oklahoma City and now on to Tucson, Seattle, Minneapolis and then home for a day or two before coming into Philadelphia to begin draft meetings that start on Wednesday,” e-mailed Marti.. “The draft should be very deep in talent and we are looking forward to a Phillie first, 6 picks in the top 110.”

Minor League NotesRHP J. D. Durbin struggled at Lehigh Valley and has been assigned to Reading where he lost this morning, 5-2, to Trenton. All 4 runs off J.D. were unearned . . . Lakewood 1B Michael Durante, who leads our minor leagues with 10 homers, went on the DL today with a sprained left ankle . . . Lakewood RHP Drew Naylor leads all minor league pitchers with 71 strikeouts . . . Lehigh Valley LHP J. A. Happ leads the International League with 66 strikeouts . . . Reading RHP Carlos Carrasco is tied for the Eastern League lead with 59 . . . There were 357 pitches thrown in last night’s Trenton-Reading game, 195 by the Phillies, 162 by the Thunder, who romped, 15-5.

This DateIn Phillies history……1983 Phillies pulled off two trades in the same day, getting LHP Sid Monge from San Diego for OF Joe Lefebvre and LHP Willie Hernandez from the Cubs for RHP Dick Ruthven and RHP Bill Johnson.

Meta

The following are trademarks or service marks of Major League Baseball entities and may be used only with permission of Major League Baseball Properties, Inc. or the relevant Major League Baseball entity: Major League, Major League Baseball, MLB, the silhouetted batter logo, World Series, National League, American League, Division Series, League Championship Series, All-Star Game, and the names, nicknames, logos, uniform designs, color combinations, and slogans designating the Major League Baseball clubs and entities, and their respective mascots, events and exhibitions.